Hebrew Bible, Genesis (Bereishith)
==================================
Wolran Kim
December 2012
Hebrew Bible is a term that refers to the Tanakh (Jewish canon) in relation to the many Christian biblical canons. In its Latin form, Biblia Hebraica, it traditionally serves as a title for printed editions of the Masoretic Text. Many biblical studies scholars advocate use of the term "Hebrew Bible" when discussing these books in academic writing, as a neutral substitute to terms with religious connotations. The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, is not a “Christian” work. Scholars believe that Jewish priests began collecting and writing down the different “books” of the Tanakh in the 6th century during the upheavals in the wake of invasion of the Jewish homeland. The texts were the one way Jewish people could preserve their identity while in foreign exile in Babylon, and also provide hope for a political future.
After the return of the Jews to Israel, the collection achieved its final form. Probably sometime in the 5th to 3rd century B.C.E. it was translated into Greek and what became known as the Septuagint version. This version became the standard version throughout the Jewish world until the completion of the authorized Masoretic Hebrew text in the 6th century B.C.E. The Septuagint version, translated into Latin as the Jerome Bible, with the addition of the books of the New Testament, became the standard translation used by Christian Europe until the 16th century. The power of the spoken language of the original is preserved.
The Bible (ta biblia "the books") is a canonical collection of texts considered sacred in Judaism or Christianity. Different religious groups include different books within their canons, in different orders, and sometimes divide or combine books, or incorporate additional material into canonical books. Christian Bibles range from the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon to the eighty-one books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church canon. The Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, contains twenty-four books divided into three parts; the five books of the Torah ("teaching" or "law"), the Nevi'im ("prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("writings").
The first part of Christian Bibles is the Old Testament, which contains, at minimum, the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible divided into thirty-nine books and ordered differently than the Hebrew Bible. The Catholic Church and Eastern Christian churches also hold certain deuterocanonical books and passages to be part of the Old Testament canon. The second part is the New Testament, containing twenty-seven books; the four Canonical gospels, Acts of the Apostles, twenty-one Epistles or letters, and the Book of Revelation.
Hebrew is a West Semitic language of the Afro-asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered by Jews and other ethnic or religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, although other Jewish languages had originated among Diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language was also used by non-Jewish groups, such as the ethnically related Samaritans. Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of Israel (the other being Arabic), while Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world. The earliest examples of written Hebrew date from the 10th century B.C.E. to the late Second Temple period, after which the language developed into Mishnaic Hebrew.
Genesis is the first book of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible. The basic narrative expresses the central theme that God creates the world and appoints man as his regent, but man proves disobedient and God destroys his world through the Flood. The new post-Flood world is equally corrupt, but God does not destroy it, instead calls one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At God's command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob.
Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and through the agency of his son Joseph, the children of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households, and God promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, successively narrowing in scope from all mankind to a special relationship with one people alone.
The Book of Genesis makes us think about the departure of the history of mankind, and tells us the history of Israel and the origins of this world, the universe, humans, homes, sin, worship, and industry. The oral tradition of Israel ancestors began to be written down around the unified kingdom era of David and Solomon, 950 B.C.E. This collected traditions literature was finished around 400 B.C.E. when Israelis returned to their home country from Babylon. For a long period, people believed Moses to be the writer. This book is not a record of the Israelis’ seeing, hearing, and experiencing.
Israel reached to confess that their God is the only living God with the Sinai covenant after experiencing the ability of God during a mysterious incident in Egypt and the trials of the wilderness. The relationship between God, man, and nature were harmonized beautifully first but suffering and death were brought to the world from the abuse of the freedom. For all that, God promised salvation rather than just leaving humans to be crushed under the forces of chaos and darkness. The purpose of Genesis is informing people of this mercy from God and therefore, this book is not about what, how, or when, it is the fundamental question of the presence, “why.” The book of Genesis premises the belief that accepts the workings of God with the eyes of faith.
The intended audience of the Bible is all human beings because God created humans and humans must follow God’s words to live right according to the Bible. The Bible stated that the gospel should be preached to the ends of the earth. The Bible is the best seller of any single book in the world because one third of the world population is Christian and tries to read the Bible once beyond religion. There is no other book that has changed a lot of people as the Bible has. Some countries ban importing of the Bible, and what reason makes them hold a gun to keep this small book out? In history, people risked their lives to preach the Bible and the Bible teaches people that only the Bible can let people know about the mysteries of God, heaven and hell, God and Satan, God’s plan, and you.
The influence of Christian missionaries is immense in the history of the world. I grew up in Sunday school memorizing the twelve disciples and the order of the creatures, and my junior high school gave me a mini Bible at the entrance ceremony. Every street has cross signs and keeps a life of faith. After immigrating to the United States, 80~90% of Korean Americans are attending a Korean Church here. Michel Foucault said that the most difficult thing for people who believe in God is believing in God. I lose God often between people who pray in unknown tongues and tears, and people who have complete differences between faith and lives. Someone said human is a religious animal. Religious mind is a man’s instinct such as physiological needs. Even atheists, they will naturally call a name of God when they encounter urgent cases.
Seeking the origins of mankind is the same as an adopted child searching for the birth parents, because no one knows before and after its own life. A creation myth is the process of finding beginnings compared to religion which prepares for the afterlife. Some say, religion is the teaching that bridges back broken lifelines. People probably do not need religion if there is just one person who came across the boundaries of life and death. Religion exists because no one knows the meaning of eternity.
Religion is the bridge between 100 years of human time and eternity. Christian theologian, Augustine said about the nature of time that he does know what time is as long as no one asks, but he does not know at the moment of someone asking what time is. I think the question of religion is the same question of time. In some way, religion is the same as life insurance because insurance is reserved in case of an accident that we may never know.
I never thought about the fact that the Hebrew Bible is not a “Christian” work. However, three quarters of the world population has religion and people acquire the meaning of life, peace of mind, mental discipline, the pursuit of truth, and social connections through religion. Humans would rather have religion because no one knows about the beginning and ending. Having religion is evidence that they are not arrogant at least in front of the Absolute. Religion makes a full-blooded human being to a single-cell such as an amoeba. Peace will come only to a simple mind. I escaped from that peace, but I would return somehow.
==================================
Wolran Kim
December 2012
Hebrew Bible is a term that refers to the Tanakh (Jewish canon) in relation to the many Christian biblical canons. In its Latin form, Biblia Hebraica, it traditionally serves as a title for printed editions of the Masoretic Text. Many biblical studies scholars advocate use of the term "Hebrew Bible" when discussing these books in academic writing, as a neutral substitute to terms with religious connotations. The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, is not a “Christian” work. Scholars believe that Jewish priests began collecting and writing down the different “books” of the Tanakh in the 6th century during the upheavals in the wake of invasion of the Jewish homeland. The texts were the one way Jewish people could preserve their identity while in foreign exile in Babylon, and also provide hope for a political future.
After the return of the Jews to Israel, the collection achieved its final form. Probably sometime in the 5th to 3rd century B.C.E. it was translated into Greek and what became known as the Septuagint version. This version became the standard version throughout the Jewish world until the completion of the authorized Masoretic Hebrew text in the 6th century B.C.E. The Septuagint version, translated into Latin as the Jerome Bible, with the addition of the books of the New Testament, became the standard translation used by Christian Europe until the 16th century. The power of the spoken language of the original is preserved.
The Bible (ta biblia "the books") is a canonical collection of texts considered sacred in Judaism or Christianity. Different religious groups include different books within their canons, in different orders, and sometimes divide or combine books, or incorporate additional material into canonical books. Christian Bibles range from the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon to the eighty-one books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church canon. The Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, contains twenty-four books divided into three parts; the five books of the Torah ("teaching" or "law"), the Nevi'im ("prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("writings").
The first part of Christian Bibles is the Old Testament, which contains, at minimum, the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible divided into thirty-nine books and ordered differently than the Hebrew Bible. The Catholic Church and Eastern Christian churches also hold certain deuterocanonical books and passages to be part of the Old Testament canon. The second part is the New Testament, containing twenty-seven books; the four Canonical gospels, Acts of the Apostles, twenty-one Epistles or letters, and the Book of Revelation.
Hebrew is a West Semitic language of the Afro-asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered by Jews and other ethnic or religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, although other Jewish languages had originated among Diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language was also used by non-Jewish groups, such as the ethnically related Samaritans. Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of Israel (the other being Arabic), while Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world. The earliest examples of written Hebrew date from the 10th century B.C.E. to the late Second Temple period, after which the language developed into Mishnaic Hebrew.
Genesis is the first book of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible. The basic narrative expresses the central theme that God creates the world and appoints man as his regent, but man proves disobedient and God destroys his world through the Flood. The new post-Flood world is equally corrupt, but God does not destroy it, instead calls one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At God's command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob.
Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and through the agency of his son Joseph, the children of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households, and God promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, successively narrowing in scope from all mankind to a special relationship with one people alone.
The Book of Genesis makes us think about the departure of the history of mankind, and tells us the history of Israel and the origins of this world, the universe, humans, homes, sin, worship, and industry. The oral tradition of Israel ancestors began to be written down around the unified kingdom era of David and Solomon, 950 B.C.E. This collected traditions literature was finished around 400 B.C.E. when Israelis returned to their home country from Babylon. For a long period, people believed Moses to be the writer. This book is not a record of the Israelis’ seeing, hearing, and experiencing.
Israel reached to confess that their God is the only living God with the Sinai covenant after experiencing the ability of God during a mysterious incident in Egypt and the trials of the wilderness. The relationship between God, man, and nature were harmonized beautifully first but suffering and death were brought to the world from the abuse of the freedom. For all that, God promised salvation rather than just leaving humans to be crushed under the forces of chaos and darkness. The purpose of Genesis is informing people of this mercy from God and therefore, this book is not about what, how, or when, it is the fundamental question of the presence, “why.” The book of Genesis premises the belief that accepts the workings of God with the eyes of faith.
The intended audience of the Bible is all human beings because God created humans and humans must follow God’s words to live right according to the Bible. The Bible stated that the gospel should be preached to the ends of the earth. The Bible is the best seller of any single book in the world because one third of the world population is Christian and tries to read the Bible once beyond religion. There is no other book that has changed a lot of people as the Bible has. Some countries ban importing of the Bible, and what reason makes them hold a gun to keep this small book out? In history, people risked their lives to preach the Bible and the Bible teaches people that only the Bible can let people know about the mysteries of God, heaven and hell, God and Satan, God’s plan, and you.
The influence of Christian missionaries is immense in the history of the world. I grew up in Sunday school memorizing the twelve disciples and the order of the creatures, and my junior high school gave me a mini Bible at the entrance ceremony. Every street has cross signs and keeps a life of faith. After immigrating to the United States, 80~90% of Korean Americans are attending a Korean Church here. Michel Foucault said that the most difficult thing for people who believe in God is believing in God. I lose God often between people who pray in unknown tongues and tears, and people who have complete differences between faith and lives. Someone said human is a religious animal. Religious mind is a man’s instinct such as physiological needs. Even atheists, they will naturally call a name of God when they encounter urgent cases.
Seeking the origins of mankind is the same as an adopted child searching for the birth parents, because no one knows before and after its own life. A creation myth is the process of finding beginnings compared to religion which prepares for the afterlife. Some say, religion is the teaching that bridges back broken lifelines. People probably do not need religion if there is just one person who came across the boundaries of life and death. Religion exists because no one knows the meaning of eternity.
Religion is the bridge between 100 years of human time and eternity. Christian theologian, Augustine said about the nature of time that he does know what time is as long as no one asks, but he does not know at the moment of someone asking what time is. I think the question of religion is the same question of time. In some way, religion is the same as life insurance because insurance is reserved in case of an accident that we may never know.
I never thought about the fact that the Hebrew Bible is not a “Christian” work. However, three quarters of the world population has religion and people acquire the meaning of life, peace of mind, mental discipline, the pursuit of truth, and social connections through religion. Humans would rather have religion because no one knows about the beginning and ending. Having religion is evidence that they are not arrogant at least in front of the Absolute. Religion makes a full-blooded human being to a single-cell such as an amoeba. Peace will come only to a simple mind. I escaped from that peace, but I would return somehow.